LITERARY TRANSLATION FROM HEBREW INTO ENGLISH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND, 1990-2010 a report prepared by by Dr Jasmine Donahaye with research assistant Michal Karas December 2011 Making Literature Travel series of reports on literary exchange, translation and publishing Series editor: Alexandra Büchler The report was prepared as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme, a co-operation between the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, Literature Across Frontiers and Transeuropéenes, and with support from the Culture Programme of the European Union. Literature Across Frontiers, Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture, Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales License
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LITERARY TRANSLATION FROM HEBREW INTO ENGLISH
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND, 1990-2010
a report prepared by by Dr Jasmine Donahaye
with research assistant Michal Karas
December 2011
Making Literature Travel series of reports on literary exchange, translation and publishing
Series editor: Alexandra Büchler
The report was prepared as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme, a co-operation between
the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, Literature Across
Frontiers and Transeuropéenes, and with support from the Culture Programme of the European Union.
Literature Across Frontiers, Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture, Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England &
1.3.1 Literary translation in the British Isles – the wider context ....................................... 5 1.3.2 Need for reliable data on published translations .................................................... 6 1.3.3 Need for comprehensive resource on translation matters in the United Kingdom and
Ireland ......................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Translation of Hebrew literature in the British Isles: key findings ....................................... 6
1.4.1 Literature translated from Hebrew — history and recent developments ...................... 6 1.4.2 Publishing ..................................................................................................... 7 1.4.3 Dissemination and access: book trade, festivals and media ....................................... 8 1.4.4 Public and private support ................................................................................ 9 1.4.5 Translators and translations ............................................................................ 10
1.5 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 11 1.5.1 Key issues and obstacles ................................................................................. 11 1.5.2 UK v. US pull of market .................................................................................. 11 1.5.3 Niche concerns ............................................................................................. 12 1.5.4 Cultural boycott ........................................................................................... 12 1.5.5 Translation challenges .................................................................................. 12 1.5.6 Publishing challenges ..................................................................................... 12
2.1.1 Cultural barriers and assets ............................................................................. 17 2.1.2 Understanding the status of Hebrew literature in translation .................................. 18
3 PUBLISHING ..................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Bibliography of published translations ....................................................................... 20 3.2 Publishers ......................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Profiles of publishers ........................................................................................... 24
3.4 Magazines, websites and blogs ................................................................................ 27 4 DISSEMINATION AND RECEPTION ................................................................................ 29
4.1 Dissemination and availability to readers ................................................................... 29 4.1.1 Booktrade information ................................................................................... 29 4.1.2 Literature at festivals .................................................................................... 30
4.2 Media and critical reception .................................................................................. 32 5 POLICY AND PUBLIC / PRIVATE SUPPORT FOR LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION ................................... 33
5.1 Public and private sector support from the UK and Ireland ............................................. 33 5.1.1 General overview.......................................................................................... 33 5.1.2 Support for translation from Hebrew ................................................................. 35
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5.2 Public and private sector support for translation and dissemination of literature from the country of origin ................................................................................................................. 37
6.1.1 List of translators and (where known) affiliation .................................................. 38 6.2 Translator profiles ............................................................................................... 40
6.2.1 Nicholas de Lange ......................................................................................... 40 6.2.2 Sondra Silverston .......................................................................................... 44
6.3 Language and literary training opportunities .............................................................. 45 6.3.1 Modern Hebrew language provision ................................................................... 45 6.3.2 Hebrew and translation studies ........................................................................ 49
6.4 Mentoring opportunities ........................................................................................ 50 6.5 Translators’ conditions of work and translation quality monitoring ................................... 50
6.5.1 Quality assessment ........................................................................................ 50 6.5.2 Prizes......................................................................................................... 51 6.5.3 Professional association.................................................................................. 53 6.5.4 Rates of pay ................................................................................................ 53
7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................... 54 7.1 Summary of key issues, problems and obstacles ........................................................... 54
7.1.1 UK v. US pull of market .................................................................................. 54 7.1.2 Niche concerns ............................................................................................. 55 7.1.3 Cultural boycott ........................................................................................... 55
7.2 Translation quality, quantity, reception and availability ............................................. 55 7.2.1 Translation conditions.................................................................................... 55 7.2.2 Changes in the publishing scene and its impact on genre ....................................... 56 7.2.3 Under-representation of women writers ............................................................ 57 7.2.4 UK versus US publishers ................................................................................. 58 7.2.5 Reception and coverage ................................................................................. 58
7.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................... 59 7.3.1 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 59 7.3.2 Translator database ....................................................................................... 59 7.3.3 Publicists and media ...................................................................................... 59 7.3.4 The book trade ............................................................................................. 59 7.3.5 Libraries ..................................................................................................... 59 7.3.6 Publishers and ITHL ....................................................................................... 59
8 BIBLIOGRAPHY, SOURCES ....................................................................................... 61 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW INTO ENGLISH (UK & IRELAND) 1990 – 2010 ....... 63 10 CONTRIBUTORS ................................................................................................. 88
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1 Executive Summary
This report was written at a time when most organisation that promote literature and support literary
translation across Europe are experiencing cuts to their already inadequate budgets, something that presents
an immediate threat to literary translation which largely depends on public and private subsidy. Yet the need
for translation between languages and cultures, and in particular a greater understanding of relations in the
conflicted Middle East, has never been greater. It is clear that we need to develop new and innovative ways
to argue the case for the key role of culture, including literary translation, in contributing to intercultural
understanding, social cohesion and peaceful coexistence in the wider Euro-Mediterranean region.
1.1 Framework
The report is the result of a study of literary translation into English in the United Kingdom and Ireland from
the three major official languages of the South-East Mediterranean region — Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish. It
was conducted as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme, a cooperation between the Anna
Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, Literature Across Frontiers and
Transeuropéennes, and specifically as part of the mapping of translation in the region coordinated by
Transeuropéennes throughout 2010 and 2011.
Although Israel is a bilingual state with two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic, this report deals
exclusively with Hebrew literature. Translation into English is seen as being of key importance as it brings
Hebrew literature not only to readers in the British Isles but often serves as the gateway for translation into
other languages.
1.2 Method and scope
The study covers the period from 1990 to 2010 and examines the entire context in which literary translation
takes place. It is therefore based not only on an assessment of published titles, but on a survey of the whole
literary scene, including the publishing sector, live literary events at festivals and venues, media reception of
translated literature, training opportunities and support structures relevant to literary translators, as well as
the policies of key arts bodies, and financial support provided by public and private sources. Much of the
gathered information comes from relevant websites and published material (including book reviews and
critical articles), as well as from interviews with individual publishers, authors and translators, arts and
culture bodies, book and literature organisations, and literary venues and festivals.
The Euro-Mediterranean scope of the mapping project means that the study had to be limited to the British
Isles; however, the interconnected nature of the British and the US book market is noted, and the
bibliography on which the study draws and which is based on the British National Bibliography database
includes all publications available in the British Isles, some of which may be US co-editions. It would be very
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useful to extend the study in the future to cover the US and the whole of North America, and possibly all
English-language territories, to obtain a more complete picture of translation from Hebrew into English.
The study focuses on translation into English, and does not take into consideration autochthonous minority
languages spoken in the British Isles — Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Welsh. Although there are no
central translation data resources to consult, the research suggests that there has been no published
translation from Hebrew in these languages.
1.3 Findings
1.3.1 Literary translation in the British Isles – the wider context
Despite the fact that the British and Irish publishing industry is one of the most productive in Europe, with an
average annual output of around 120,000—130,000 books, the British Isles rank lowest in Europe when it
comes to publishing translations. The recent report on barriers to literary translation in the English-speaking
world estimates that 1.5—2% of all books published in the UK are translations, or around 2,500 per year, and
that far fewer are literary translations.1 This is in sharp contrast to the numbers of translations published in
European countries, where in smaller countries such as the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia,
translations represent 20—30% of all published new titles over the period between 1990—2005, while France
and Germany had a translation output of 10—15% over the same period.2
The reasons for the low level of interest in translated literature on the part of English-language publishers
and the reading public at large have been the subject of much speculation and discussion. Several factors are
understood to contribute to the perceived cultural insularity and attitude of indifference towards translated
literature in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Among the key reasons cited are the international hegemony of
the English language combined with the low value placed on learning foreign languages, and the fact that, as
a former Empire, Britain in particular has a tradition of exporting rather than importing cultural products;
this is especially true when it comes to books and literature, an area in which it is very self-sufficient.
Publishing translations in the United Kingdom and Ireland is therefore a specialist activity that caters to a
niche readership. For the most part it is undertaken by small publishers who are largely dependent on public
subsidies, both from UK funding sources and from source-language institutions and grants programmes, and
who are concentrated in England and particularly in London. But whereas this has been true for Hebrew
translation, this study shows that in the last twenty years the larger commercial publishing houses have
begun to dominate statistically, with a concentration on a few high profile authors.
It is only recently that the profile of literary translation has been raised, and local literary events have
become more international in the true sense of the word. There are also several recent initiatives which have
1 Research into Barriers to Translation and Best Practices, conducted by Dalkey Archive Press for the Global Translation Initiative, March 2011, available in pdf at www.dalkeyarchive.com 2 Publishing translations in Europe, Trends 1990-2005, Literature Across Frontiers, 2010. Available in pdf at www.lafpublications.org and www.lit-across-frontiers.org
given the literary scene an international dimension, such as the foundation of the Free Word Centre, the first
“literature hub” in London with a strong focus on international connections and freedom of expression, and
the Literary Translation Centre, established at the London Book Fair in 2010. The international content of
events and festivals has also grown. Despite these positive developments, mostly due to the encouragement
and support of public bodies and private foundations, translation remains a niche activity both in terms of
publishing, distribution, media coverage and readership.
1.3.2 Need for reliable data on published translations
Embarking on the study, the authors were faced with a major problem: the lack of an existing bibliography of
translated works. While data on published books in general are available through the British National
Bibliography and Nielsen BookData (from the latter at a cost), there is no systematic collection of data or
statistical analysis of translations published and distributed in the UK and Ireland. The Index Translationum,
the global UNESCO database of translations, only started receiving and processing data from the British
National Bibliography very recently, and it still presents an uneven and unreliable picture of translations into
English.
It was necessary therefore to compile a bibliography before it was possible to assess trends in the publishing
of literary translations from Hebrew. In addition, it has not been possible to conclusively compare publication
figures with data from other countries on the one hand, and with translations from other languages into
English on the other. The need for a reliable mechanism to collect and analyse data on translated books is
therefore one of the most urgent issues to have emerged from this and other studies and surveys, including
those conducted by Literature Across Frontiers.3
1.3.3 Need for comprehensive resource on translation matters in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Currently, there are several organisations dealing with translation that provide information on their websites
and by other means, but none of them gives a comprehensive coverage on this field of activity in the United
Kingdom and Ireland which would be comparable to, for example, the ‘Three percent’ website in the United
States.4 There is a need for a comprehensive resource on translation matters in the United Kingdom and
Ireland that would connect existing information sources and channel relevant information and news from
abroad.
1.4 Translation of Hebrew literature in the British Isles: key findings
1.4.1 Literature translated from Hebrew — history and recent developments
Hebrew literature in English translation has a long history related to Biblical scholarship, but with the
development of modern Hebrew a very different kind of translation emerges, particularly after the mid-
twentieth century. In its early years, standards of translation were not particularly high, but in the last few
3 See Publishing Translations in Europe, Trends 1990-2005, Literature Across Frontiers, 2010. Available in pdf at www.lafpublications.org and Research into Barriers to Translation and Best Practices, conducted by Dalkey Archive Press for the Global Translation Initiative, March 2011, available in pdf at www.dalkeyarchive.com. 4 http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent
particularly of fiction. Here again, high-profile names predominate, as do the publications of the larger
presses, suggesting the effectiveness of publicists in securing coverage.
Over the last ten years, the three main review publications, the Times Literary Supplement, the London
Review of Books and the Guardian Review have focused mostly on male writers, and in recent years on
fiction, to the detriment of poetry.
1.4.4 Public and private support
Support in the UK
Financial support for Hebrew literature in translation in the UK and Ireland relies on a mixture of public
funding and private sponsorship for publishing and for events and festivals.
The Arts Councils of the four countries forming the United Kingdom have all developed an international arts
policy. Arts Council England and Creative Scotland support the publication of some titles in translation; in
Wales this is the remit of the Welsh Books Council, but in the latter case, no works in translation from
Hebrew have been published in the last twenty years. In Ireland, with the exception of translations between
Irish and English, the publishing of translations is extremely rare and is limited to less than a handful of
(mostly poetry) publishers. The work of Israeli poet Amir Or is the only Hebrew writing in translation that has
been published in Ireland in the period of this report.
The English PEN Writers in Translation programme supports and promotes literature in translation, and each
year awards grants to UK publishers to help promote and market selected titles. PEN has provided some
funding for featured Israeli authors, for travel and events support.
The British Council is responsible for the UK’s international cultural relations, and in the case of Israel is
involved in the bi-lateral BI-ARTS programme, a joint arts exchange endeavour with the Israel Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Funding details from Bi-Arts were not available for the purposes of this report but the
programme has supported literary and translation projects
Support can also be offered for festivals that feature Israeli authors: Creative Scotland supports the
Edinburgh Festival which has included Israeli authors, and Arts Council England supports Jewish Book Week,
in the form of varying amounts of funding for its author events. The festival also receives sponsorship by the
Jewish Chronicle, as well and funding from private individuals and charitable foundations and trusts, and the
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Hay Festival, which has included several Israeli authors in its
programme over the years, is supported by Arts Council Wales, but in 2010 there were no Israeli authors of
fiction or poetry.
There is considerable interest in translation and in literary exchange in Wales, with support for author events
and exchange by organisations such as Wales Literature Exchange, the writers’ centre Tŷ Newydd in
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Gwynedd, and the new Translators’ House, which brings translators to workshops in Wales. Israeli poet Amir
Or has participated in readings and events at Tŷ Newydd, and Literature Across Frontiers, the European
Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate based in Wales, has organised translation
activities in Israel involving UK-based and Israeli poets.
The British Centre for Literary Translation is supported by Arts Council England, and holds workshops led by
translators focused on a particular author. None of these has featured Hebrew translation, but there have
been occasional genre-led translator or author events. In a new development, the BCLT hosted the 2011
award of the Porjes Prize for translation from Hebrew.
Support in Israel
The Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature is the Israel-based agency for funding literary translation
into Hebrew. ITHL commissions a small number of translations of books annually, depending on budget, and
on priority language, which is decided each year by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as the funder of its
subvention programme. English is considered a priority, because it serves as the gateway to onward
translation into other languages.
In the last approximately fifty years, a total of 132 ITHL-commissioned or supported titles have been
published in the UK.
1.4.5 Translators and translations
Conditions
Based on the data in the British National Bibliography, it is possible to identify sixty-four translators of
literary works published or distributed in the UK between 1990 and 2010. Of these, very few appear to be
members of British, Israeli or American translator associations, and many are occasional rather than regular
translators.
The identity and status of translators in the UK and Ireland is largely eclipsed by focus on the author,
whether in reviews, festival appearances or book promotions. In reviews, translators are often not mentioned
by name, and in one case not identified by the publisher.
Literary translators interviewed for this report reported that although the situation of Hebrew literature in
translation is good, there are fewer opportunities now for poetry and short stories in particular compared to
twenty or so years ago. In Israel, few translators choose to work in literary translation because opportunities
are limited and pay in non-literary translation is, comparably, much higher.
Pay for literary translation from Hebrew appears comparable to that from other languages, and conforms
roughly to recommended rates by the Translators Association in the UK. However, there is some feeling that
because of budget constraints, the ITHL offers lower than standard rates for the translations it commissions.
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Translation quality is seen on the whole to be high, and to have greatly improved in the last few decades.
However there is little mechanism for assessing it, as the quality of translation against the original is almost
never assessed in reviews. Publishers chiefly rely on word of mouth and networking to make assessments of
translator quality before commissioning work. Some translators are much in demand, and the cost of
commissioning them is therefore rising.
There is some feeling that translators based in Israel lack a sensitivity to changing English usage, and the
entry on Hebrew in The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation suggests that while the ITHL ‘has
done a great deal for the propagation of Israeli Hebrew literature in translation ... generally speaking the
quality of translations produced under its auspices is not really comparable to that of those on the free
market’.6 American English for a readership in the British Isles also continues to be a matter of concern.
There is little in the way of translation training provision in the UK and Ireland. Although there are modern
Hebrew language course offerings at five of the leading UK universities at both undergraduate and
postgraduate level, there is no translation-specific provision, and appears to be little if any relationship with
Translation Studies departments even where these are available within the same universities.
Prizes
Several prizes, both for international translation and for Jewish or Hebrew-specific work, all add to an
increased professionalism and a raising of standards. Translations from Hebrew have been shortlisted and
longlisted for The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and
nominated for The Man Booker International Prize; several translations have also been shortlisted and have
won The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize. TLS-Risa Domb/Porjes Prize for Hebrew-English
Translation, awarded every three years, has also helped raised the profile of translations from Hebrew
literature, and of their translators.
1.5 Conclusions
1.5.1 Key issues and obstacles
1.5.2 UK v. US pull of market
Sheer numbers dictate the irresistible market pull of the US for translation into English, and for the
availability of translators, and UK publishers sometimes have to go to great lengths to un-Americanize
translations. Works that are published in the US and distributed in the UK and Ireland without specifically UK
editions may well create a degree of resistance among readers. The dominance in numbers by Toby Press,
and, in the future, by Dalkey Archive Press, are a matter of concern in this regard.
6 The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, p. 395.
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1.5.3 Niche concerns
On the whole, Hebrew literature in translation is not overly constrained by perceptions of it occupying a
niche Jewish interest, but this particular market is also not served well by the Jewish periodicals. Jewish
Book Week is an exception, providing a bridge between Jewish material, including Hebrew literature in
translation, and a broad public, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
Hebrew literature in translation probably suffers more from expectations about Israel in terms of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict relationship. Consequently, writers whose work does not fit easily within that framework
suffer a degree of marginalization and neglect, both in events and in reviewing. Where authors also engage in
political discussion, there is more extensive coverage. Festivals include Israeli authors regularly, but again
have a tendency to focus on the dominant names, and to focus events on the conflict. These are trends that
are difficult to challenge, as they both arise from and feed into perceptions and expectations about the
culture.
1.5.4 Cultural boycott
Although calls for a cultural boycott of Israel have not significantly impeded the work of authors, translators
or publishers where Hebrew literature in translation is concerned, such efforts have led to some hostile
confrontations, and continue to be a matter of concern and a potential constraint.
1.5.5 Translation challenges
In general, translation from Hebrew has improved greatly in the last twenty years, but there is certainly
room for greater support for translators in the UK and Ireland, particularly at the university level. The signs
are poor for foreign language uptake at the secondary school level, and foreign language departments at
universities are suffering cuts. Overall, the number of graduates in Hebrew is very small in the UK/Ireland,
and this suggests the probability of American translators predominating in the field of translation into
English.
There is a great distance to go in translators being recognised for their work. The reviewing culture,
particularly in the broadsheet media, and festival and events organisers do not at present accord appropriate
recognition to and foster interest in translators’ work.
1.5.6 Publishing challenges
Changes in the publishing scene have had a significant impact on genre. Between 2000 and 2010 the number
of fiction titles in translation has ballooned, but the range of translation has narrowed, both in the number of
authors and the genres being translated. Although there is a great deal of excellent poetry that remains
untranslated, the translation field is heavily dominated by fiction. It is also heavily dominated by male
writers.
Larger presses now take up a very few Israeli novelists and publish them in quite prodigious quantities, and
these authors have an element of celebrity status. Smaller presses are consequently less able to compete.
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Women’s work in translation has tended to be more heavily poetry and has tended to be published by smaller
presses or in occasional co-editions, and this work has therefore been effected by the dominance and focus
of the larger presses. Although the actual number of women authors in translation has increased, books by
men vastly outnumber translated books by women. The absence of women fiction writers is very marked, and
this is reflected also in festival events, such as Jewish Book Week. The reasons for this disparity need
urgently to be examined and addressed. There are also notable absences in children’s literature and drama,
observed in the Oxford Guide in 2000, and still true ten years later.
While a breadth of form is not as well represented as it should be, the breadth of cultural background is
beginning to change. Writing by authors of European background is now better balanced with work by Jewish
writers with a background in the Arab and Muslim world. Arab writers who choose to write in Hebrew have
been represented in translation, but this is occasional rather than regular.
The dominance and market pull of US publishers continues to be a major challenge for UK presses, particular
smaller independent publishers. As indicated in the report, it is difficult to acquire a clear picture of UK and
US publishing of Hebrew work in translation, because of international distribution and multi-national trade
presses. It may well be that presses in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as small presses in
England and the Republic of Ireland, could provide a greater counter-balance and complement to the
concentration of the few Israeli authors in large English and multi-national publishers; indeed, if a more
representative range of Israeli work in translation is to be made available and known, this might be one way
forward.
1.6 Recommendations
1.6.1 Filling gaps in resources
Bibliography
In the absence of a reliable, exhaustive, and easily-accessible bibliography of works in translation by country,
it is not possible to get a full picture of the history of translation, nor discern trends in translation publishing.
A collaborative effort between publishers, the British Library and the ITHL could yield a reliable resource for
researchers
Translator database
In the same regard, an up-to-date, fully-detailed contact database of currently active translators (identified
by country of origin, so as to assess UK/US questions of translation) needs to be compiled.
1.6.2 Acquiring in-depth information
Publishers’ market expertise
Access to publishers’ publicists and marketing departments would be an invaluable resource for basic
information on media coverage of translated work including radio, television and online material, which has
not been possible to gather within the time-frame of this report. The extensive knowledge that publicists in
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particular would have would deepen our understanding of responses to and perceptions of work in
translation.
The book trade
It is essential to get a better picture of the trade end of publishing in order to ascertain attitudes – and
barriers – to the uptake of work in translation by the public. Sales reps, bookshop buyers, distributors and
publicists all need to be canvassed for information and opinion.
Libraries
Libraries are a key component in the delivery and accessibility of work in translation. Both borrowing
statistics and acquisition policy and trends would reveal useful information and patterns of interest on the
part of the public. In addition, library borrowing statistics might yield powerful arguments about the interest
in translation in support of grant applications, which, for example, would not be evident in sales.
ITHL and publishers
Further research is needed on the relationship between publishers and the ITHL, the impact of ITHL’s efforts
to publicize the literature, and the question of particular relationships, if any, with Toby Press and with
Dalkey Archive Press. In addition, the question of the relationship between remuneration and quality of
translation needs to be further investigated, as does the situation of authors not represented by ITHL, and
non-Hebrew language literature in Israel.
1.6.3 Policy recommendations
Ensuring diversity
More resources need to be made available to smaller presses publishing work in translation, in order to
ensure that diversity across culture, gender, subject matter, language and genre is achieved.
Outreach to independent presses
Outreach to smaller independent presses is needed in order to achieve the diversity identified above – an
outcome that is likely to be best served by promoting Israel’s literatures in translation to smaller publishers
alongside larger ones. Funding needs to be made available to those smaller publishers, whether in the form
of commissioned translations of quality, or in the form of publicity and marketing support, so that they can
effectively compete in a crowded market largely hostile to translation.
Centralised resources
A simple but high-quality, current, online resource with links to such organizations as the ITHL, the Society of
Authors/Translators Association, as well as Booktrust and Jewish Book Week and a libraries agency would
greatly benefit the overall profile of Hebrew literature in translation. It would also assist in the reliable
cataloguing and recording of work in the British National Bibliography, and would be a resource for the
public, the trade, and the press.
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Educating reviews editors
A concerted effort, perhaps under the aegis of the Translators Association or the Society of Authors, is
needed to change the reviewing culture, which is notoriously poor at ensuring proper recognition of
translation quality and even translator names.
Translation resources
ITHL, the primary means of promoting Hebrew literature in translation to the world, is facing cuts to its
already inadequate budget. As the ITHL itself argues, translation into English is a priority, as it provides for
onward translation into other languages.
New and innovative approaches need to be developed to argue the case for financial support for literary
translation – arguments about reduction of conflict, cross-cultural dialogue and international relations, for
example, with a view to accessing sources of money that are not traditionally available for the arts, for
literature, for translation or for publishing, such as charitable foundations, private individuals and innovative
sponsorships.
2 Introduction
This report examines the situation of Hebrew literature in translation in the UK and Ireland in the present
and over the last twenty years, and touches on patterns of translation, publication, dissemination and
reception. It also describes key trends, highlights matters of concern, and identifies areas where additional
research is called for. Finally, it makes recommendations for further action. For the purposes of this report,
unless otherwise specified, the frame of reference and the language term ‘English’ refers to the UK and
Ireland and not the US or the anglophone world.
2.1 Historical overview
Hebrew literature in English translation has a long history related to Biblical translation and scholarship, but
with the development of modern Hebrew in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a very different
kind of translation emerges. The period of the national renaissance and the cultural revival was dominated
by poets such as Bialik, although both short and long fiction also began to emerge as literary forms that had
to struggle with modernity in a Hebrew rapidly being transformed into a viable spoken language of the
everyday.7 Initially, translation into English was associated with the efforts of the Zionist movement, as
Nicholas de Lange observes in The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation. This was apparent ‘in
the type of literature translated, the often amateur character of translations and the limited forms of
distribution’.8 One outlet was the polemical Zionist Review, for example. Literature began to find serious
and effective, though occasional, translation post-war. In its early years, standards of translation were not
7 See T. Carmi, ed. The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse (London: Penguin, 1981), and Glenda Abramson, ed. The Blackwell Companion to Jewish Culture (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989). 8 Peter France, ed. The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 395.
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particularly high, and interest (and distribution) suffered from either academic or Jewish niche focus. S.Y.
Agnon, winning the Nobel Prize in 1966, contributed to a change in attitudes, as did the efforts of the
Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature, which was set up in 1966. In the last forty or fifty years,
there has been a great change in the volume, genre and standard of work in translation, with Hebrew
literature really taking off in the UK from the late 1980s, and moving from occasional small press and
academic press publication to more mainstream publishers, and, more recently, to trade presses.
Israel has a lively, rich and diverse literature across all genres, of very wide-ranging subject matter and in
several languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish and Arabic. Although Israel is a bilingual state with two official
languages, Hebrew and Arabic, since the establishment of statehood, the Hebrew language and its literature
have been dominant. (This report deals exclusively with Hebrew literature.) If poetry enjoyed a prominent
position in the pre-state period (the outcome, in part, of a very ancient poetic tradition), and in the first
decades of translation into English, fiction has since emerged as a vibrant area of authorial activity; over the
last ten years, a very great deal of the work newly available in translation in English generally, and available
specifically in the UK and Ireland, is in the form of fiction rather than poetry.
From the 1980s onwards, poetry and fiction began to be published in more substantial and professional ways,
but it was still small presses, such as Peter Halban (now Halban Publishers), Menard Press and Quartet who
focused on the work, with other occasional titles appearing scattered across larger publishers and university
presses (the latter almost exclusively in the US). Writing by women in translation has always lagged behind
that by men, and though in the last twenty years the volume has increased, the proportion has not greatly
changed. Hebrew work by women in translation in the UK still constitutes less than half of that by men. The
Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, published in 2000, points to the emergence of women
writers in the 1990s but names only one in its bibliography. It also identifies children’s literature and drama
as areas of neglect for translation; ten years on, this has not much changed.
Two major changes have taken place in the publishing world since Halban Publishers began publishing their
Hebrew translations twenty-two years ago. Firstly, there has been the ever-greater concentration of
publishing by larger conglomerates, which have combined smaller independent presses under single trade
structures (such as Random House, for example, with imprints Vintage, Jonathan Cape, Harvill Secker and
Chatto & Windus). Since the early 1990s, this has resulted in a great deal of the most well-known work being
published by a very few larger presses, such as these imprints of Random House. This concentration of trade
publishers has also led in part to the disappearance of small presses, as well as to small presses ceasing to
publish Hebrew literature in translation.
The second major change has been the remarkable improvement in international distribution arrangements
and the globalization of the publishing sector, which has greatly expanded what is available in translation in
the UK/Ireland. There is a downside to this, however. In general, large publishers do not take commercial
risks on unknown authors, and focus instead on high-profile writers, while smaller publishers, who might be
more inclined to make choices based on quality rather than the highest possible commercial returns, cannot
7
17
compete as effectively in the market. The result has been a narrowing proportion of non-celebrity authors
and an ever-increasing profile and multiple titles in translation of three major writers. Consequently,
although as Martine Halban, of Halban Publishers says, Hebrew literature is now ‘very much on the map’,
what is known in translation in the UK/Ireland does not necessarily reflect what is available.9
2.1.1 Cultural barriers and assets
Hebrew literature in translation faces some of the cultural barriers that all work in translation in the
UK/Ireland struggles with, namely an unease about accessibility and an over-consciousness of ‘foreignness’
by a reading population that is largely, though not regionally, monolingual and without the experience of
close, daily, multiple language interactions. The exceptions are, of course, Wales and, to a lesser extent,
Ireland and Scotland, but even in bilingual Wales the majority of monolingual English speakers share a
broader UK unease about other languages. In addition, Peter Finch, former director of Academi (now
Literature Wales), suggests that although there is strong empathy for translation, particularly among Welsh-
speakers, the ‘economic energy’ goes into the Welsh-English situation.
In general, whether a legacy in part of British imperialism or a product of geographical separation from
continental Europe, this unease results in a marked lack of interest in literature in translation that has not
already been given a kind of international literary canon stamp of approval. ‘We assume we will export
rather than import,’ says Martine Halban. ‘We’re not attuned to foreignness, and not naturally open to
foreign books. Perhaps that is changing – the translation of Scandinavian thrillers is helping: it makes people
pick up books by foreigners.’
While Hebrew literature may face such barriers that exist more widely for work in translation, Israel has a
highly literate and highly educated population, and most writers are comfortable with English, are effective
English speakers and are well attuned to British and American literatures and literary culture, so they ‘travel’
well. ‘There’s an immensely rich literary and cultural scene in Israel,’ says Martine Halban. ‘Authors speak
English and are keen to travel and communicate at festivals and readings. They tend to be very critical of
government policy and so they are well received in the West.’
Hebrew literature in translation in English has two particular niche markets that serve both as asset and
limitation. The work is of particular interest to those members of the population who are Jewish and feel
some kind of connection with Israel, but this is certainly not true of the whole of the Jewish community of
the UK/Ireland, which is anyway extremely small. The Jewish population of the UK was some 267,000 in
2001, according to the census that year, less than 0.5 % percent of the population as a whole, but still the
largest in Europe after France.10 In addition, a growing strictly religious subset of the Jewish population,
which had brought the number up to 280,000 by 2008, is perhaps less likely to be reading a great deal of
secular modern literature.11 Thus any identification of Hebrew literature in translation as being primarily of
interest to the Jewish community would in effect severely marginalize and constrain it. Secondly, in the UK
9 Interview with Martine Halban, August 2010. 10 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=954 11 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7411877.stm
more widely, there is a particular interest in Israel, both because of the memory of the British Mandate in
Palestine and because of the UK’s central role in the establishment of the state of Israel. Therefore there is
perhaps a proportionate interest in the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the broader
Middle East as a whole. This interest generates a considerable market for certain kinds of Hebrew literature
in translation, namely work that deals centrally with the conflict, or authors who take particular kinds of
political positions on Israeli-Palestinian relations. While this has created a kind of celebrity status for three
such authors, each very different in terms of their style and literary approaches — David Grossman, Amos Oz
and, to a slightly lesser extent, A.B. Yehoshua — it is at the cost of a broader and more varied range of
literature available, which has been somewhat eclipsed.
In addition to the legacy of the British Mandate in Palestine, the revival of Hebrew was a matter of central
importance in Wales, where it became a model for the Welsh language revival in the mid-twentieth century
(to the degree that Welsh-language intensive courses were named wlpans, after the Hebrew equivalent, the
ulpan). But this did not lead to any particular or notable uptake of or interest in Hebrew literature in
translation (perhaps because, by the time it was available in any quantity in the 1980s, the sense of unease
with Israel as a national model precluded interest in its literature).12
This unease became more widespread in the UK and Ireland after the 1967 war and strengthened after the
1982 invasion of Lebanon, resulting in the present day in an intensely critical atmosphere in response to
Israeli government policies. Consequently, it has a strong and direct influence on the kind of literature in
translation that is noted and celebrated in the UK, so that the work of overtly critical writers perhaps
eclipses others with less useable, politically acceptable or identifiable positions. However, even those writers
who are publicly critical of Israel can find themselves directly affected by hostility to Israeli policies: in
Ireland, such criticism has led to sometimes high-profile reactions to one such Israeli writer, A.B. Yehoshua,
as well as to poet Amir Or.13
This differs sharply from the US, where there is not only a very large Jewish population but where American
Jewish literature forms a central part of the literary canon, and where attitudes to Israel both within and
beyond the Jewish population, although varied, are in general considerably less overtly critical.
2.1.2 Understanding the status of Hebrew literature in translation
Given this background, there are dangers of seeing the work – and marketing it – through the filter of Jewish
interest. Although Jewish literary events and media (and readers) are important resources for Israeli writers,
they make up only a small part of the potential reach of Hebrew literature in translation. The Jewish Book
Week festival, profiled in this report, and publications such as the Jewish Quarterly and Jewish Chronicle,
are central to the dissemination of Hebrew literature in translation and, indeed, were the movement for a
cultural boycott to gain ground over literary events, the importance of such specifically Jewish provision
would increase. There is a delicate balance that needs to be achieved between this niche market and the
12 See Jasmine Donahaye, Whose People? Wales, Israel, Palestine (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2012). 13 The response to A. B. Yehoshua was reported by Martine Halban. Amir Or discussed his experiences in an interview with the author in 2006.
9
19
potential wider market. Even within Jewish Book Week, a festival that celebrates books that are not
necessarily only by Jewish authors, explaining ‘Jewishness’ is a challenge, according to its director Geraldine
D’Amico. ‘There is a difficulty in the perception of Jewishness: for lots of people it’s not obvious if it’s not
religious; it’s complicated because of the complexity of Jewish identity – but many people don’t understand
this. It’s not as virulent as it was a few years ago, when there was a very strong anti-religious feeling. Now
it’s more open. But it’s an ongoing job to communicate what is meant by Jewish. There’s a barrier that
needs to be overcome.’14
Equally, a tendency to view Israel primarily or exclusively through the filter of the Israeli-Palestinian
relationship can distort the view of a literature that is very much wider in reach, expression and subject
matter. In festivals, for example, an inclination to pair Israeli and Palestinian authors, or to focus discussion
on the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, can act as a constraint for authors who do not wish to be made into
political or national spokesmen. ‘Books that correspond to views or stereotypes about the other country are
what people expect,’ says Geraldine D’Amico. ‘Anything Arab/Israeli is the focus. Writers become
ambassadors and are asked to take political positions – but sometimes it’s a weight that they don’t want,
though it’s really emphasised.’
In addition, the relative status (and size) of the UK and US markets is a factor in the publication and uptake
of Hebrew literature in translation. For a literature already ‘difficult’ in the UK because of attitudes to
translation, an overtly American English can act as a very major additional disincentive to readers. The
degree of language difference is not something that US or Israel-based organizations are likely to be
particularly attuned to. For large UK-based publishers with international reach and extensive resources, it is
possible to produce both UK and US editions, but with smaller publishers, for whom translation is already a
risk and entails a very significant editorial cost, this would prove prohibitive. Nevertheless, the US market is
so very much larger than the UK market that the pull in that direction is inevitable. The relationship between
the UK and the US markets also leads to some difficulties of definition: work in translation published in the
US but distributed in the UK is included, where available, in the bibliography outlined in Appendix 1, below.
However, the exact location of publishers is difficult to define if they have multiple offices or subsidiaries
(either in the UK and the US, or, for example with Toby Press, who appear to be located both in the US and
Israel). Distribution also varies in reach according to the effectiveness of particular distributors; consequently
there is some unevenness and inconsistency in the works included here for consideration.
Finally, there is an overarching consideration for English translation of Hebrew, which must colour all of the
matters touched on in the following report. English translation of Hebrew literature serves as the gateway for
world translation of Hebrew literature: it provides for the onward translation from English into many other
languages that would not otherwise be possible, as Hebrew is not a widely-used or widely-known language
outside its key constituencies in Israel, the US and, to a much lesser extent, in Canada, France and the UK.
Consequently, there is a particularly heavy onus on English-language translation to be of a very high
standard, and the widest range possible of Hebrew literature to be available in English.
14 Interview with Geraldine D’Amico, 2010.
0
20
3 Publishing
3.1 Bibliography of published translations
The bibliography in Appendix 1 is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. It is based on the British National
Bibliography at the British Library and on a list of translations from Hebrew into English supplied by the
Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature. The listing of a title in the British National Bibliography
depends on the legal requirement for publishers based in the UK to deposit, a requirement that is not always
met, as well as on the provision of data to the library by bibliographic services such as Nielsen BookData. In
addition, books published in the US with UK and Ireland distribution arrangements are included, though
inconsistently. The British Library specifies for exclusion from the National Bibliography ‘material without a
British or Irish imprint and without a UK distributor named within it’ .15 A telling and important example of
inconsistent cataloguing is the case of two titles by Sayed Kashua, published by Grove/Atlantic, whose
distributor for the UK is Publishers Group West. One title, Let It Be Morning, appears in the bibliography, but
another more recent title, Dancing Arabs, does not, even though PGW is named as distributor (to complicate
matters, Grove does have a UK arm).
In addition, books published through an online print-on-demand delivery (such as one of Amir Or’s titles), are
not necessarily deposited with the copyright libraries. Titles published in Ireland are sometimes but not
always included in the catalogue. There are very few published in Ireland: three identified are titles by Amir
Or, published by Poetry Ireland, Waxwing Books, and Dedalus Press.
Arriving at a definitive bibliography for printed books is therefore problematic. It is very difficult indeed to
get a clear, accurate picture of publishing patterns and statistics. The bibliography published online by the
Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature is out of date and incomplete, identifying neither publisher
(nor journal, in the case of shorter pieces), nor date of publication. Many of the titles do not appear in the
National Bibliography and are not available in the UK. One must assume therefore that they are published by
US publishers or publishers in other Anglophone countries without UK distribution.
Finally, the bibliography in Section 8 does not indicate whether books are currently in print or available.
Titles published in the 1990s by larger presses that have not since been republished in new editions are likely
to be unavailable now, but smaller publishers tend to keep their titles in print for longer periods of time.
The tables that follow are drawn from data compiled from the British National Bibliography.
Table 1. Translations from Hebrew into English, 1990 – 2010
Peter Finch, former Chief Executive, Academi (now Literature Wales)
Sophie Garside, lecturer in Hebrew, Manchester University
Deborah Guth, editorial director, Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
Martine Halban, Halban Publishing
Martin Kaye, Kuperard, distributor for Toby Press
Oxford University, Department of Jewish Studies
Sondra Silverston, translator
9 Bibliography of works translated from Hebrew into English (UK & Ireland) 1990 – 2010 The bibliography is based on the National Bibliography at the British Library and on a list of translations from Hebrew into English supplied by the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature. The report will be updated with a list of the Institute’s translators and an indication of which books have been subsidized by it when this information is received from the ITHL.
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Kaniuk, Yoram His daughter Bito Seymour
Simckes Paladin London 1990
London: Paladin, 1987
London: Halban
Publishers, 1988
Fiction Yehoshua, A. B. Five seasons Molkho Hillel Halkin Flamingo London 1990 c1989
Novel Almagor, Gila The summer of Aviya Hillel Halkin Collins London 1991
Novel Dagan, Avigdor The court jesters : a
novel
Letsane he-
hatser
Barbara
Harshav Bloomsbury London 1991
Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society, 1989
Poetry Greenberg, Uri Zvi Uri Zvi Greenberg : 100
years since his birth I.M. Lask
University of
Cambridge,
Centre for
Modern
Hebrew
Studies
Cambridge 1991
64
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Ka-tzetnik 135633 House of Dolls Bet ha-bubot Moshe M.
Kohn Grafton London 1991
New York : Simon &
Schuster, 1955
London : Muller, 1956
Hamilton & Co, 1958
St Albans
: Mayflower, 1973
Fiction Oz, Amos My Michael Mikha'el sheli
Nicholas de
Lange with
the author
Vintage London 1991 Chatto & Windus, 1972
Novel Appelfeld, Aron The healer Jeffrey M.
Green Quartet London 1992
London : Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1990
Poetry Goldberg, Leah On the blossoming Al ha-perih ah Miriam Billig
Sivan
Garland
New York;
London 1992
Fiction Oz, Amos To know a woman Nicholas de
Lange
Vintage
London 1992
London : Chatto &
Windus, 1991
Fiction Oz, Amos Touch the water,
touch the wind
Nicholas de
Lange with
the author
Vintage London 1992
New York : Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1974
London : Chatto &
Windus, 1975
Fiction Oz, Amos Unto death Nicholas de
Lange Vintage London 1992
London: Chatto & Windus,
1971
65
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Short
Stories Oz, Amos
Where the jackals howl
: and other stories
Nicholas de
Lange and
Philip
Simpson
Vintage London 1992 London: Chatto & Windus,
1980
Novel Appelfeld, Aron The age of wonders Tor ha-pela'ot Dalya Bilu Quartet London 1993 Boston, Mass.: Godine,
1981
Fiction Oz, Amos Black box K ufsah
sheh orah
Nicholas de
Lange with
the author
Vintage London 1993
London: Chatto & Windus,
1988
London : Flamingo, 1989
Fiction Weissbrem, Israel The world of Israel
Weissbrem
Alan D.
Crown Westview
Boulder;
Oxford 1993
Novel Appelfeld, Aron To the land of the
reeds
Jeffrey M.
Green Quartet Books London 1994
New York: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1986, 1987
Fiction Oz, Amos Fima Ha-matsav ha-
shelishi
Nicholas de
Lange Vintage London 1994
London : Chatto &
Windus, 1993
Fiction Yehoshua, A. B. Mr. Mani Hillel Halkin Phoenix London 1994 London : Halban
Publishers, 1993
Short
Stories Agnon, Shmuel Yosef
A book that was lost :
thirty-five stories Toby
New Milford
(CT) 1995
c1995: Schocken Books
Originally published as A
book that was lost & other
stories,
66
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Akavia, Miriam An end to childhood
Michael P.
McLeary and
Jeanette
Goldman
Valentine
Mitchell Ilford 1995 2003 McLeary Michael,
Novel Appelfeld, Aron The immortal Bartfuss Jeffrey M.
Green Quartet London 1995
London : Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1988
Novel Appelfeld, Aron Katerina KĚŁatĚŁerinah Jeffrey M.
Green Quartet London 1995
New York : Random
House, 1992
Novel Appelfeld, Aron Unto the soul Ad nefesh Jeffrey M.
Green Quartet London 1995
New York : Schocken,
1998
Novel Michael, Sami Victoria Dalya Bilu Macmillan London 1995
Poetry Rachel
Flowers of perhaps :
selected poems of
Ra'hel
Robert
Friend, with
Shimon
Sandbank
Menard Press London 1995
Poetry Shafrir, Moshe The promise of rain ha-Havt ah ah
le-geshem
Mellen Poetry
Press
Lewiston;
Lampeter c1995
Poetry Amichai, Yehuda The selected poetry of
Yehuda Amichai
Chana Bloch
and Stephen
Mitchell
University of
California
Press
Berkeley;
London 1996
New York : HarperCollins,
1992
67
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Appelfeld, Aron For every sin Al Kol
Hapshaim
Jeffrey M.
Green Grove Press New York 1996
London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1989
London: Quartet
Encounters, 1995
Fiction Oz, Amos Don't call it night Al tagidi laila Nicholas de
Lange Vintage London 1996
London : Chatto &
Windus, c1994, 1995,
Poetry Pagis, Dan The selected poetry of
Dan Pagis
Stephen
Mitchell
University of
California
Press
Berkeley;
London 1996
Fiction Porat, Elisha The messiah of La
Guardia
MashiahĚŁ mi-
Lah-Gardyah
vĚŁe-sipurim
ahĚŁerim
Alan Sacks Mosaic Oakville, Ont. c1996
Fiction Yehoshua, A. B. Open heart Dalya Bilu Halban
Publishers London 1996
Poetry Amichai, Yehuda The great tranquillity :
questions and answers
Shalṿah
gedolah
Glenda
Abramson and
Tudor Parfitt
Sheep
Meadow Press
New York
Riverdale-on-
Hudson, NY;
Great Britain
c1997 New York : Harper & Row,
c1983
Novel Castel-Bloom, Orly Dolly city Dalya Bilu
Loki
(UNESCO
collection of
represent-
ative works)
London 1997
68
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Fiction Oz, Amos Panther in the
basement
Panter
bamartef
Nicholas de
Lange Vintage London 1997 c1995
Fiction Perl, Joseph
Joseph Perl's "Revealer
of secrets" : the first
Hebrew novel
Megaleh
t emirin Dov Taylor Westview
Boulder,
Colo. ;
Oxford
1997
Poetry Shabtai, Aharon Love & selected poems Peter Cole Sheep
Meadow Press
Riverdale-on-
Hudson, N.Y. c1997
Novel Ben-Ner, Yitzhak Rustic sunset & other
stories
ShekĚŁiĘżah
kefarit
Robert
Whitehill
Lynne
Rienner
Boulder;
London 1998
Novel Grossman, David The zigzag kid Yesh yeladim
zigzag
Betsy
Rosenberg Bloomsbury London 1998 1997
Novel Barbash, Benny My first Sony Dalya Bilu Headline
Review London 1999
Poetry Gabriel Levin (ed.)
Found in translation : a
hundred years of
modern Hebrew poetry
Robert Friend Menard London 1999
69
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Grossman, David Duel Betsy
Rosenberg Bloomsbury London 1999 1998
Poetry H abushah, Shelomoh Hourglass Riva Rubin Oxfordian
Institute Oxford 1999
Drama Marion Baraitser (ed.) Echoes of Israel :
contemporary drama Loki Books London 1999
Novel Matalon, Ronit The one facing us Marsha
Weinstein Henry Holt New York 1999
Fiction Yehoshua, A. B.
The continuing silence
of a poet : the
collected stories of A.
B. Yehoshua
various Halban
Publishers London 1999
London: Halban
Publishers, 1988
London : Flamingo, 1990
Fiction Yehoshua, A. B. A journey to the end of
the millennium
MasaĘż el tom
ha-elef
Nicholas de
Lange
Halban
Publishers London 1999
Novel Agnon, Shmuel Yosef Only yesterday Barbara
Harshav
Princeton
University
Press
Princeton,
N.J. ; [Great
Britain]
c2000
Princeton, N.J. ;
Chichester : Princeton
University Press, 2002
70
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Agnon, Shmuel Yosef The bridal canopy I.M. Lask
Syracuse
University
Press
Syracuse,
N.Y. ; [Great
Britain]
2000
Originally published: New
York : Schocken Books,
1967
Novel Horn, Shifra Four mothers Arbaʿ imahot Dalya Bilu Piatkus London 2000 New York : St. Martin's,
1999
Novel Lapid, Haim Breznitz Yael Lotan Toby Press London 2000
Poetry Shirley Kaufman et al.
(eds)
The defiant muse :
Hebrew feminist poems
from antiquity to the
present : a bilingual
anthology
Loki Books London 2000
Originally published, New
York: Feminist Press,
1999.
Short
Stories
Baron, Devorah; edited
by Chana Kronfeld and
Naomi Seidman
The first day and other
stories
Naomi
Seidman with
Chana
Kronfeld
University of
California
Press
Berkeley ;
London 2001
71
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher
Place of
publication Year 1st edition or reprint
Novel Dagan, Batsheva
Imagination : blessed
be, cursed be :
reminiscences from
there
Anna Sotto Memoir
Publications Newark
2001,
c1997
Novel Horn, Shifra The fairest among
women H. Sacks Piatkus London 2001
Novel K enaz, Yehoshuʿa Returning lost loves Dalya Bilu Steerforth ;
Turnaround
Vermont,
Calif. ;
London :
2001
Novel Shalev, Meir Four meals Barbara
Harshav Canongate Edinburgh 2001 c1994, 2000
Novel Di-Nur, Shelomoh Adiel Philip
Simpson Toby Press London 2002
Novel Kimhi, Alona Weeping Susannah Susannah ha-
bochiah Dalya Bilu Panther London 2002 London: Harvill, 2001
72
Category Author
surname, name Title in translation Original title Translator Publisher